Doubled
by Lixia42
Summary: Battousai is the other face of Kenshin...in fact, the original. And that face has been hiding, lurking under the surface of Kenshin's bland facade in order to get the one thing he wants...Kaoru.
1. Prologue of the Tormented Saviour

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters.   
  
Doubled   
  
Prologue

By Lixia42

She was his. After careful planning, careful trap setting, the prey had fallen unwittingly into the predator's lair...the angel's wings had been caught in the demon's claws... When she was unconscious, he had taken care to dress her appropriately, breathing hard to not take her unresisting body then and there. He trusted no other to view her bared body. Only he would have the privilege of that.

He had selected a large loose white nightgown. White for a virgin, white for an angel, white for her delicious slim body, for her dark hair to shine against and her large blue eyes to open wonderingly upon... Oh yes, he had waited for this moment for a long time. Agonizing over it, impatient as he forced his features into pleasantness, into blandness, for that imaginary fool Kenshin in her daily routine, thinking all the while, "Soon, soon..."

But now the wait was over. The past was done and the tempting present had finally arrived. He grinned, picturing her trapped in his gloomy large bedroom, unable to escape, the pure sky caught within the sweltering earth's unconquerable gravity...

He opened the door to his bedroom. There she was, standing next to the bed, slim white form illuminated by the moonlight, looking graceful and beautiful and tragic all at once...and he would have her before the night was over.  
  
"Hello, Kaoru," he whispered huskily. She flinched at the sound of his voice but then stilled. He stepped closer to her. Still she did not move. Wanting to get a reaction from her, he grasped her roughly to him, kissing her fiercely with all the pent up passion he had harbored for so long. She cried out, voice muffled. struggling against him but his arms pinned hers down to her side.  
  
He let her go suddenly and she stumbled back, sitting down abruptly behind her on the large bed in the room. He breathed deeply, calming himself down. He would play gently with her. He would be tender so she could see how sweet he could be.  
  
"I can be kind," he whispered, "or I can be cruel. It's your choice."  
  
She cried silently on the bed, tears shining on her face, alabaster white skin glowing against the black silk sheets. She looked so innocent, so caught, so trapped...The white billowing nightgown hung loose on her slim frame, not allowing her to hide from the blackness. She was the light, swallowed in darkness, the darkness of the soul of her captor...

"Give in to me," he breathed, invisible hands slipping around her waist, gently, commandingly in the dim shadows, showing his kindness. "Give in to me," he breathed, as he pushed her softly to fall back upon the bed, kissing away the silent tears coursing down her face.

"No," she cried out, softly, the black silk of her hair spilling out about her head like a halo. If only she could fight her captor! If he were a tangible opponent in a fighting match, then oh how quickly she would defeat him! She hated being reduced helplessness, hated feeling spiking fear down her spine...she didn't know that she was trembling.

Feathery kisses brushed her face as the voice chuckled playfully above her. "You afraid of me, pretty one? How adorable!" it purred. He nuzzled her neck gently, breathing in the delicious scent of her body. She suddenly felt a heavy weight on all of her body, gasped as his face materialized from the shadows, lust darkened eyes raking over her loveliness. "You should be," a dark voice growled, different from the amused one before. She gasped, stomach clenching in fear.  
  
He could sense her fear, reveled in it. Just as suddenly he sat up, playful twinkle back in his eyes, determined to be kind as long as he could control himself. "I'm here, a tangible opponent as you wanted!" he said gleefully. "Care to fight me, Kaoru?"

She shuddered. "You're not Kenshin. Leave Kenshin alone, Battousai!"

The Battousai chuckled mirthlessly. "But I am Kenshin," he murmured, leaning in close to her. "I always was Kenshin," he said, brushing his lips against the sensitive skin of her wrist. "Why do you think Kenshin was so protective...no, possessive... of you yet was careful to stay away? I am Kenshin, that's why. It wasn't time to reveal myself before."

Kaoru shuddered, her silky hair rippling about her as she clutched herself. Battousai's breath caught in his throat as he watched her breathtaking loveliness, watched her fire reduced to helplessness before him. "Mine," he muttered, crawling over her, control nearly shot.

She tried to push him off, but he gently caught her wrists above her head with one hand and continued to lower himself down upon her. "I'll never let you leave me," he said, trailing kisses down her neck. He sucked gently, nipping with his teeth as she moaned involuntarily. She could smell the musky smell coming from him, feel his hard body unrelenting as it pushed hers deeper into the mattress...

"No!" she cried, tears reappearing. "Stop, please!" He simply started to unbutton her nightgown, trailing more kisses down to her breasts.  
  
She screamed when he took out a knife but he shushed and soothed her gently as he carefully cut away the bindings on her breasts. He couldn't help but give a small nick on the way back up though, and his eyes gleamed with a red haze as his mouth descended upon the small cut at her neck. Her blood was like a sweet aphrodisiac to him...his restrictions were gone, all he felt was wild abandon...  
  
She moaned instinctively, one hand behind his dark head lacing into his hair as a haze descended upon her. When he had stopped his ministrations, she gave a gasp at how she had been urging him on and tried to quickly struggle away. "Don't," he growled, and forced her to still again, though her heart was frantically hammering against her chest.  
  
When he had cleaned her small wound he returned his attentions to her breasts. He watched them heave in her panic, large and firm and voluptuous, and with a groan cupped one in his roughly textured hands and kissed it. "I have waited a lifetime to catch you," he breathed, lolling his tongue over one breast, one hand at the small of her back forcing her to arch into his mouth, soft cries coming from her, "a lifetime to claim you as mine. Fight me, Kaoru. Do it, now."

Kaoru acquiesced, struggled wildly, trying to escape his grasp as he pinned her down more forcefully against the bed. "That's it," he groaned, rubbing his hardened manhood against her as her struggles increased. He was so strong, she couldn't escape the cage of his body, the cage of his indomitable will that had lasted him through terrible things.  
  
Her hands pushed desperately at his chest, gasping as she felt the corded muscles of his stomach and chest press harder against her. She was sweating now, tendrils of hair clinging to her face as she tiredly pushed against his chest still, determined to resist until the last. Finally, she hung limp in his arms, panting, able to resist no longer. His eyes held triumph as he surveyed her. They were glittering maniacally now.

"I've won," the guttural dark voice said. She whimpered. He was done playing nice with her. Roughly her robe was ripped from her. She cried out as he captured her wrists together above her head with a rough hand.

Lying upon her with all of his weight, Battousai grinned as Kaoru struggled again, fighting to breathe. He groaned and took her mouth with his, his tongue delving past her lips to taste the honeyed heat of her mouth. She cried out, arms straining to get out of their bonds and push him away. His skin was so hot, it was burning her!

"So long," he breathed, rocking his hips against hers and earning soft little cries that greatly aroused him. "I've waited so long. For you, sweet lovely...for you, who has tempted me for so long..."

He inhaled from the crook of her neck, detecting that faint luscious aroma that seemed to belong to her alone... She was his light in the utter darkness of himself, the precarious sanity at which he clutched desperately, loving with his entire being to the point of self- destruction...destruction of his own salvation...  
  
"My light, my love...perhaps it is you who shall save my soul?"


	2. Chapter 1 The Farce

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters.   
  
Doubled   
  
Chapter 1

By Lixia42

Kaoru hummed contentedly, doing the morning's laundry. It was a happy day outside, with glorious sunshine and beautifully puffy clouds. Kaoru stopped washing one of Kenshin's shirts and just closed her eyes, savoring the warm feeling that engulfed her.  
  
"Kaoru?" came a voice. Kaoru spun around and saw Sanosuke in the doorway of the dojo. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head and smiled at her. "Breakfast is ready. I made it since you were working."  
  
Kaoru smiled. "Thanks, Sanosuke. That was really sweet of you." Sanosuke blushed and muttered some noncommittal disclaimers before vanishing back into the dojo. Kaoru sighed. It was getting more obvious by the day that Sanosuke wanted to court her. And she really didn't want to complicate matters by doing that.  
  
She thought of love and immediately Kenshin came to mind, with his gentle demeanor and astounding thoughtfulness. She loved the innocence in his violet eyes, and loved the way they sparkled just for her when they were alone.  
  
She remembered when she had first kissed him. He had been training himself when she had come in and watched him. She could never cease to be amazed at his level of skill. His sword was a blur, and only his eyes remained frightfully steady.  
  
Hearing her, he had quickly finished his routine and stopped, his back to her. "Close your eyes," he demanded hoarsely. There was such intensity in that demand that Kaoru immediately obeyed without thinking. She felt a gust of air and the "thud" of Kenshin's steps-two quick strides-and then he was there.  
  
She felt the sweat from his body soaking into her clothes, felt herself pressed against his chest as he cradled her head like she as something precious. He lashes fluttered and he kissed them shut. She understood.  
  
Leaning down, he had given her a searing kiss, his mouth warm against hers. She could feel the roughness of his palms against her cheeks, felt the surge of heat from his body. Abruptly he released her, gently turning her around. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.  
  
Kaoru smiled. It had been almost a frightening experience, with the intensity scaring her, but that was how Kenshin felt about her. And she knew she returned those feelings. He had always been gentle to her, always reserved about being too forward. Except for that one day she had just reminisced over.  
  
He had come back, hours later, apologizing for his misconduct. She had watched with large eyes solemn until he had finished, his violet eyes tender and worried. Then she had quietly walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. He had looked so stunned. She giggled out loud. He was adorable.  
  
"Kaoru?" came from the dojo. Oops! She had spent so much time daydreaming that she had forgotten about breakfast!  
  
"Coming!" she called out cheerily. She was gathering the clothes when someone took it from her.  
  
"Kenshin!" she said delightedly. "I was just thinking of you!"  
  
He smiled gently, eyes twinkling in that sweet way when they were together. "And I you, Kaoru. You're never far from my mind." At her blush, he gently brushed his fingertips across her cheek before carrying the laundry basket chivalrously into the house. Kaoru exhaled. The things he made her feel! She was sure that she loved him.

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He knew what Kaoru had probably been thinking of. That day he had lost just a bit of his control. He had accidentally glimpsed Kaoru coming from the bathhouse. Steam had been coming off of her skin and light tendrils of hair had escaped from her bun. But what had made him snap was the fact the she had no towel around her body. He had immediately fled from the bathhouse, not for embarrassment but for his control.  
  
In hid mind's eye he could still see the swells of her soft breasts, her slim waist, the utterly innocent way she was drying herself, up her calves and thighs and finally, tentatively, she had...he growled with frustration.  
  
**FLASHBACK**  
  
His eyes bled gold as he rushed to the practice area. He had to get rid of some of the tension piling inside him. He went through exercises, going faster and more precisely until he was almost exhausted. And that's when Kaoru had slipped in to watch him. He stopped his exercise. This could be dangerous to his plan. His eyes were gold now, he couldn't change them; his mental facilities were too shot from his memory of her.  
  
"Close your eyes", he demanded, his voice rough with need, courtesy not even recognizable to him now. He felt her obey him and he rushed forward to her, holding her with the restrained gentleness that _Kenshin_ would of treated her with. He hardened very painfully as he pressed her to him, and let himself think..._Just a little taste, that's all I'll take...  
_  
It would be a test of his self-control.  
  
Brushing his lip against hers, he poured all of his intensity into that one ensuing kiss that bespoke of his obsession for her. He felt her tentatively returning the kiss, felt her soft mouth part just a little, felt his tongue move forward and taste her overwhelmingly sweet flavor...Then, slowly, gently, he pushed her away. He was gone before she could open her eyes.  
  
**END FLASHBACK**

He had rushed away to the nearest whorehouse and had gone through five whores with long black hair before he was physically sated. But his mind's obsession for her could never be quenched.  
  
Battousai chuckled darkly as he put the laundry basket down. Soon, he would no longer have to play the Kenshin farce. Soon, he would have Kaoru's mind and body, would have her beneath him, if she was not willing the first time she would learn to be...He directed his mind away from those thoughts. Patience is what it took.  
  
He could have taken and claimed her when he first saw her, when he first detected that impossible, unearthly scent, so sweet and pure and heavenly coming from her. But then there would have been a chance for her to escape. There would have been a chance that he would not keep her in the end. And so he would wait until the time was ripe, until she was ripe, and then he would take her. And she would forever be his.  
  
"Kenshin?" Kaoru has come in behind him. Deciding to give her some foreshadowing of what was so soon to come, Battousai didn't reply. In the dark shadows of the windowless room, he slowly turned around, eyes glinting with gold. He flashed her a razored grin before turning around again.  
  
Kaoru gasped. "Kenshin? Are you alright?"  
  
He stepped out into the hallway, into the light. His mild violet eyes looked questioningly at her. "I am finished with the laundry, that I am. Is Kaoru not feeling well?" His worried gaze calmed her and she smiled.  
  
"I just thought I saw...I don't know. Something odd." Kaoru shyly brushed her hand against his. "It's time to eat. Sanosuke made breakfast."  
  
Nodding to Kaoru, he frowned when her back was turned. Yes, Sanosuke and Yahiko would have to go. He would kill them for forcing him to keep this façade more guardedly than if it had just been Kaoru and him.  
  
Yahiko was just the most annoying little boy. "Kenshin" had been a great big brother or father figure, but Battousai seethed at the boy's sentimentality. The boy was a weakling and would have to go.  
  
And then there was Sanosuke. Battousai wasn't blind. Sanosuke had dared set his eyes on Kaoru in want, had dared to blush in her presence like a lover, had dared to love her...for that he would die. Battousai grimaced. He would have to do it soon, quickly and quietly so his Kaoru wouldn't dwell on the thought. There were more important things she would have to worry about soon.  
  
Eyes golden, he again grinned a fanged grin before kissing Kaoru atop her head. He felt her blush and giggle, a little dove so unwittingly caught in his trap. Oh, how she would cry when she found her _Kenshin_ dead, had never even existed.


End file.
